The several thousand items contained in the Middle Eastern Americana collection document the substantial and significant presence
of the Middle East in the annals of American popular culture. Over the course of more than 150 years and well into the present
public interest in the Middle East has engendered a consumer appetite for a material culture that ranges from popular fiction
and cinema to tobacco and coffee. In all its parts and subsets this diverse and multifaceted collection is geared for academic
research and scholarly exploration of issues related to the representation of the Middle East in various popular culture domains
including literature, cinema, music, photography, graphics and visual art, the performing arts, and entertainment.

Background

Jonathan Friedlander, former assistant director of the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, began collecting this wide array
of print, audio visual, and electronic materials and ephemera in the early 1970s. His interest in the commercialization and
wide dissemination and marketing of products and services bearing Middle Eastern iconography, images and brand names has yielded
several publications, exhibitions, videographs, websites, and most importantly a sizable collection of primary sources including
his own photography of parades and festivals, jazz musicians, belly dancers, Arabian horses and their trainers and caretakers,
and architectural styles deemed Moorish, ancient Egyptian and Assyrian, Saharan, and otherwise inspired by the Arabian Nights
and seen across America.

Extent

33 boxes (16.5 linear feet)
21 oversize boxes

Restrictions

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.

Availability

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.